Alison Shanks wins time trial in Fitchburg
5 July 2010
For the third day in a row a Kiwi took the victory at the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic. Today it was the turn of Alison Shanks. The former World Champion won the time trial event.
Shanks in time trial mode at the Elite Nationals earlier this year ©RoadCycling.co.nz
Like her specialist track event, the individual pursuit, the time trial is all about consistent top speed. Today's 14.3km race in Massachusetts was longer than her usual 3km event, but Shanks timed her efforts perfectly to take the victory.
She won by a margin of 12sec over fellow Kiwi Cath Cheatley with NZ Road Champion Rushlee Buchanan finishing with the 4th best time in what was a great day for the Kiwis.
Shanks only arrived in the US this week. She's starting an endurance phase in her training to prepare for October's Commonwealth Games where she is likely to race the individual pursuit and lead the New Zealand women's team pursuit squad.
When her Dunedin hometown is suffering from New Zealand's winter chills, Shanks likes to head to warmer weather for more pleasant training and to gain the intensity only racing can deliver.
Shanks has been aggressive throughout the tour's previous stages, but it was Cheatley who took the first two stage victories.
Cheatley's strong result today consolidated her lead on the General Classification where she now has a 1m11s buffer on the second placed rider - who happens to be Buchanan, her Kiwi teammate in Colavita Baci.
Tomorrow's final stage is a criterium race where Cheatley and Buchanan, who is also the NZ Criterium Champion, should be able to finish the competition together on the podium.
"It's cool to have Kiwi's representing, we are all out to ride hard and have a good bike race, so Colavita will be going for the stage win tomorrow for sure. Who it will be, it doesn't matter! A team win is what we are after," Buchanan told RoadCycling.co.nz
"There are a few Kiwis here and we are definitely making our mark in the women's field but the racing is solid and there are some good girls in the peloton," she added.
Shanks is currently 4th on the General Classification but barring a major incident, she is unlikely to be able to pull back enough time to make the final podium a Kiwi whitewash.
The 51st Fitchburg Longsjo Classic in Massachusetts is a four stage NRC event with a circuit race, road race, time trial and criterium.
Shanks, Buchanan and Cheatley are all on the shortlist to represent New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games in October; Cheatley for the road race and Shanks and Buchanan for track events.
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